Lakeside gave Warner Robins all it could handle over the weekend before falling 51-49. Once again, Stephen Houzah put on a show for the Panthers. If there is a better return man and all-around producer in the state, I’d like to see him. The talented senior returned two kickoffs for touchdowns (79 and 95 yards) against the Demons. That gives Houzah four kickoff returns for scores this year. He also leads the CSRA with six interceptions and has returned one for a TD. He has blocked four kicks and has a pair of TD receptions as well.

The middle school football season wrapped up in Columbia County with one team standing tall at 7-0. The Lakeside Middle School Panthers completed a perfect season with a 30-6 victory over Stallings Island in their final game.

While they went undefeated, the Panthers did get a few serious tests along the way. After dominating their first three opponents by a combined score of 92-6, LMS had to scrap hard to win tight games versus Columbia MS, Riverside, and Greenbrier before winning the finale over Stallings Island.

A couple of weeks ago I featured Grovetown junior Ben Jean as one of the county’s top players. Friday night versus Greenbrier, Jean needed only 11 carries to rack up 168 yards and five touchdowns (four in the first half) in Grovetown’s 48-28 win.

Jean was not the only big performer in the contest. Greenbrier tailback Josh Pierce, a 6-0, 190-pound senior, rushed for 250 yards and four TDs on 40 carries. In all, the two teams combined for 752 yards rushing (Grovetown 451 yards / Greenbrier 301 yards) on 87 carries.

I am off to my worst start ever in terms of winning percentage on my picks, but for the second consecutive week I am thrilled with one of my misses. I said in my prediction capsule last week that Lakeside High would need to force a couple of turnovers to beat Jones County, and senior defensive back Stephen Houzah took care of that.

Well, I bounced back last week going 5-1 with my only loss being Lakeside’s 24-20 victory over Houston County. I picked Houston County to win 30-26, but knew this one could go either way. As a matter of fact, I actually flipped to Lakeside on Friday on my radio show. Either way I am happy for Coach Hibbetts and the Panthers. I am especially happy for junior QB Nick Patterson. He was coming off poor performance against Evans. He seemed to put too much pressure on himself facing an archrival. He was outstanding in the win over No. 9 Houston County and highly touted QB Jake Fromm.